16 September 2023 – 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) (Sunset Mass) | Malaysia Day

by Fr Oliver Tham

Now each of us are always given a great amount of time to change ourselves. For God, there is no limit to time because God is timeless. We have time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is all given, at all times throughout our lives.

But the question really goes to ‘Do we actually try to make a change in our lives?‘ Not only for ourselves but also within our family or within our neighbour or within the church community. Do we try to make an effort?

One of the major changes that we should do is forgiveness. Forgiveness is difficult but it is essential. You must have that. Now we always think that forgiveness is all about saying ‘I’m sorry‘, ‘Forgive me‘, ‘My apologies‘. That is what we are all used to it. Am I right? Sometimes we don’t say it to people that we don’t like. Right? We can’t say it because our ego is too high that we can’t come down to say ‘I am sorry‘.

Now, those words are there. But if you really understand forgiveness, it actually means making a decision to let go of all our negative issues. Our anger, our resentment, grudges, bitterness, spitefulness, hatefulness. Because if we have all these, we are going to be an angry person and then we are going to cause issues with people. And when it becomes bad, it is hard to forgive.

So it is all about removing our own negativity that is inside of us and then you bury them. It is not easy. It is very difficult to get rid of things that you are so comfortable with.

If you are able to let go, then you are changed, in life will be better. One of the iconic memory in our lives as Catholics and Christians is when Jesus was on the cross. What did He say to the people down there? ‘Forgive them because they do not know what they are doing.‘ That is Jesus forgiving them. In a way He is teaching us. Let us start to forgive one another.

It is not about saying sorry to someone. Forgiveness is also about yourself because you need to redeem yourself, you need God. By redeeming yourself, we need God. That is how it works. Forgiveness plays an important part.

So if we say to people ‘I belong to God, I need to belong to God‘, then the question is ‘Are we ready to let go?‘ Once again, all the negativity that we have. If we are able to let go, then we can be ready to offer something positive, just like what Jesus did on the cross.

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